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IndustryArena Forum > CAM Software > Surfcam > Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    637

    Thumbs up Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    These fools keep shooting themselves in the foot. I would have thought they would have run out of feet by now. Who runs this company? Billy Maze?
    Basically the letter says if we don’t get back on maintenance By July 1, 2017 we may lose access to our current License. Since there is no chance in hell that we will bow to this unethical demand, we will have to say goodbye to anything related to Surfcam or Vero and look into other alternatives for our programming needs when the need should arise.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    683

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Quote Originally Posted by moldcore View Post
    These fools keep shooting themselves in the foot. I would have thought they would have run out of feet by now. Who runs this company? Billy Maze?
    Basically the letter says if we don’t get back on maintenance By July 1, 2017 we may lose access to our current License. Since there is no chance in hell that we will bow to this unethical demand, we will have to say goodbye to anything related to Surfcam or Vero and look into other alternatives for our programming needs when the need should arise.
    That seems to be the way companies are going thanks to Dassault Systems with their new Solidworks licensing scheme. Chances are they aren't going to cancel the current license but make you pay for all the years you didn't keep it current. Subscription based only seems to be the way of the future. I transition to Fusion 360 and haven't looked back. It is less than my yearly Solidworks and comes with HSMworks and Simulation built in to it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    142

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    I wonder when I'll get my e-mail......For some reason I doubt I ever will. I don't see them taking something you've paid for. Doesn't really matter....we've moved on already.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    80

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Is this for the new and different Surfcam, or Traditional?
    Later,
    Charlie

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    637

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Quote Originally Posted by Charlie Gary View Post
    Is this for the new and different Surfcam, or Traditional?
    For me it's an older version from about 2012. I've been a user since 1996 and have to say I've been somewhat happy with the product but not with the company that developed and marketed it. They have sold us nothing more than empty promises for years. And now this just adds to my frustrations. This is extortion to do this. The cost to maintain the licence system is minimal compared to the long term cost of screwing over long time users. My version has a usb dongle so I guess it will work for years to come as long as my computer keeps running. Or maybe I should get a new computer this month just in case. Fusion 360 looks better every time I try it.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    142

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Quote Originally Posted by moldcore View Post
    My version has a usb dongle so I guess it will work for years to come as long as my computer keeps running.
    As long as you still have your CLS license file saved somewhere you can put it on any computer you want. Run the file and plug your USB dongle in and keep working.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    97

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Yes, I got the same email.

    We only use what they now call the "Traditional" version. Unfortunately, we changed to their internet based keyless license, 2 years ago and gave up our dongle, not that we had much of a choice if we were going to get the newer releases.
    I got a call from BobCad last week, they claim that they have no maintenance fees and never have. I first saw them about 30 years ago, at that time it seemed like nothing more than a $400 simple 2 axis system. At the time, I thought it was just a joke that would disappear but here they are all these decades later with a system that they claim will do 5-axis programming... Who knew...

    Maybe its time to switch, unfortunately as one major player goes one way, as previously mentioned, it seems like the rest always follow.

    Oh BTW....
    I had a really, seriously bad issue with Vero last year that I never saw coming. I was teaching a machinist where I was doing some programming work how to use SurfCam. The plan was that if it worked for them they'd buy it. Well, a month later I got a certified letter from Vero legal department threatening me with copyright infringement included with the letter was an invoice. If I didn't buy a new copy of SurfCam for $85,000 they would begin legal action within 30 days. I had no idea what was going on, but I was scared almost spitless. A company that big could chew me up and spit me out without blinking.

    They claimed that I had been using an unlicensed copy of SurfCam and that even though I had a legal copy, the unlicensed copy still meant that I was infringing on their copyright... What....??? They even claimed to have evidence. They sent me a print out that showed my legal license used where the IP address called to their servers and showed another copy of SurfCam licensed to LND (Legends Never Die) which is a bootlegg signature, probably created by them to entrap people by means of extortion or entrapment...
    Anyway, I found out that the chap I had been teaching found a bootleg copy at a flea market and was using it at work, so our systems were shown side by side...

    Warning...! Warning...! Warning...!
    Don't use bootleg software, I've also heard stories of MCam doing using the very same scam to entrap people...
    I really had no idea and certainly, I never thought it could happen to me, I'm very careful of what software I have on my computers...

    Has anyone else heard other stories about this type of thing going on...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Posts
    49

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    I have been a long time user of Surfcam, it was a decent system.

    since it got bought (a few times now) it is no longer the competitive company it once was.

    tech support has gone to oblivion if your a direct customer, you have to go through a portal to get any kind of help and to communicate once you have is impossible, unless you log back onto that crap they call the portal (i have to assume anyone who has a vero product has to suffer like this.

    someone else needs to buy this company away from vero and put it back on track. i don't blame anyone for leaving or not paying the maintenance

    this release has bugs galore and to get them fixed .. well with as many issues as it has and what little was done its likely they only have one developer.

    i vote that some one with money buy the company, fire everyone except the support personal and the developer and put them back on track.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    148

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Quote Originally Posted by machinster View Post

    Oh BTW....
    I had a really, seriously bad issue with Vero last year that I never saw coming. I was teaching a machinist where I was doing some programming work how to use SurfCam. The plan was that if it worked for them they'd buy it. Well, a month later I got a certified letter from Vero legal department threatening me with copyright infringement included with the letter was an invoice. If I didn't buy a new copy of SurfCam for $85,000 they would begin legal action within 30 days. I had no idea what was going on, but I was scared almost spitless. A company that big could chew me up and spit me out without blinking.

    They claimed that I had been using an unlicensed copy of SurfCam and that even though I had a legal copy, the unlicensed copy still meant that I was infringing on their copyright... What....??? They even claimed to have evidence. They sent me a print out that showed my legal license used where the IP address called to their servers and showed another copy of SurfCam licensed to LND (Legends Never Die) which is a bootlegg signature, probably created by them to entrap people by means of extortion or entrapment...
    Anyway, I found out that the chap I had been teaching found a bootleg copy at a flea market and was using it at work, so our systems were shown side by side...

    Warning...! Warning...! Warning...!
    Don't use bootleg software, I've also heard stories of MCam doing using the very same scam to entrap people...
    I really had no idea and certainly, I never thought it could happen to me, I'm very careful of what software I have on my computers...

    Has anyone else heard other stories about this type of thing going on...
    Just heard from a company I work with, even though they had a few licenced versions of Surfcam, a programmer bought in a broken version, it cost him $14k to get Surfcam off his back. He doesn't know if it was tracked when the broken version contacted the Surfacm server, or somebody might have turned him in.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    4252

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Their claim would never stand up in court. They are just bluffing. Simply quoting an IP address means nothing: there is ZERO proof that it was you. And it wasn't either. Call their bluff.

    Mind you, I would not even start to do business with a company like that.

    Cheers
    Roger

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    148

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Quote Originally Posted by RCaffin View Post
    Their claim would never stand up in court. They are just bluffing. Simply quoting an IP address means nothing: there is ZERO proof that it was you. And it wasn't either. Call their bluff.

    Mind you, I would not even start to do business with a company like that.

    Cheers
    Roger
    As this the internet your legal advice is worth $.02.

    He seemed to take the threat seriously and has paid Surfcam.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    4252

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    I wasn't talking about the $14k Surfcam case, but the $85k one. In the $14k case the guy himself had gone pirate, and knew it.

    In any event, their bluff worked on him. A couple of emails and they scored $14k.

    Yeah, 2c worth.

    Cheers
    Roger

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    97

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    The company in my case, did wind up buying Surfcam at full price. It likely cost them $15k or more. I'm not sure if you've ever been sued or involved in a law suit, but a large company with unlimited resources can and will destroy you if they want to.
    Oh sure they might be bluffing and you might be able to prevail, eventually, but how much would it cost you in legal fees to win in court..?

    It is my opinion that these companies have created this bootlegged software themselves, to entrap hapless people into buying their software. There really is no benefit to anyone else to create this software, other than the people who will use it as a trap AKA extortion....

    JUst say no....

  14. #14
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    60

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    Keep you data private and invest in vpn,,,

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Posts
    2

    Re: Received Blackmail Letter from Vero Today.

    As I see it nowadays, blackmailing is still a well-known scheme. Idk when these guys will stop doing it...

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